It's an artistic movie?

[roadrunner2]

Great advice! 

[uncle_al]

It's so hard to know what they--the powers at be--want. I know it has to show signs of $$$, but what they think might resonate with an audience, might not.

The powers that be are only there because they got lucky with a previous decision.  They know -- and WE know -- they will only last until they pass on the next "tentpole" movie, or make something that sinks faster than a leaden statue of Edward D. Wood off the Santa Monica pier.
The best advice I can offer which is worth every pfennig it cost you is to write what burns your gut... write it the very best you can... polish it until the gleam is blinding... make sure everything is logically inevitable, but surprising... eradicate typos, correct formatting mistakes, get honest opinions, revise, revise, revise, revise until you're sick of seeing your computer again, then kiss it goodbye, send it off on its rounds...
And get started writing the next one.

This is about as specific as I can get, I suppose... what floats a twelve foot aluminum johnboat doesn't do anything to an aircraft carrier.

Al B.

[roadrunner2]

"I think sometimes it's a matter of having an idea that really sounds great, all of the participants love, but somehow just doesn't translate to the screen very well." So true!

When I first started writing stories, I thought, "who wouldn't like this, it's got theme, passion, etc.," but I quickly learned after my first screenwriting class, that what I like doesn't always appeal to the rest in the class.  I would come in with this awesome idea (so I thought) and my professor was quick to poke holes in the weak areas of the script.  It's was both enlightening and somewhat disheartening.  I think that's why it's taken me so long to finish this recent script. (I'm still editing!) I'm trying so hard to MAKE it work right.  It's driving me nuts!  Some days I read it and think, "it's coming along," and then some days I want to pull my hair out, 'cause nothing seems to fit.      

It's so hard to know what they--the powers at be--want. I know it has to show signs of $$$, but what they think might resonate with an audience, might not. For instance, I just took my two kids to see, The Game Plan, starring, "the Rock."   It's produced by Disney, so I was prepared for a feel-good movie, but that's about it.  I was pleasantly surprised!  Not only did I bust out laughing through the entire movie, it kept my attention from the get-go.  Sure, there were a TON of kids in the theater and hearing their laughter made it even better, but  I sat there and thought,"who knew"...?

Then the other night, I watched, A Time to Kill, (for the 10th time and saw on the TV Guide summary that it only got two stars.  Since I live in the south, I can totally relate to this movie and thought it was great. Of course I like John Grisham though

Sometimes I have to ask myself, "who am I writing for"?  I think I get caught up in trying to make it work and lose sight of the story.  How did I get here? 

[ScriptNurse]

I think sometimes it's a matter of having an idea that really sounds great, all of the participants love, but somehow just doesn't translate to the screen very well. HEAVEN'S GATE comes to mind. Every shot a cinematic Rembrandt. Everyone slaved over it for months on end. Even the studio poured tens of millions into it even though it was WAY over budget. No one came close to caring about this movie as much as the people who made it.

Sometimes a producer is stuck ... he's got a script a star is in love with and the studio wants made because of it. In the 18 months since principal photography and its release, the world turned a little and by then the public could not care less about the subject. It happens.

Sometimes it's a film the director wants to make. SHINDLER'S LIST was such a film. Universal didn't want to make it, but figured they owed it to Steven Spielberg for the billions he's made them. It also had a happy ending — it was phenominally successful and most of these sort of films aren't.

And sometimes ... sometimes it's an idiot bean-counter or producer who thinks he knows how to make movies. For example, years ago when I worked in the story department at Paramount, a reader came in with a script in hand and said to my boss, "You're not going to believe this one." He turned on his heel and left behind THE EXQUISITE THING that producer Raymond Stross was planning to make. The exquisite thing it turned out when I read the script later, was all about a guy who liked to be tied up to a four-poster bed and humiliated. Thankfully, this one did not make it to production, but others do.

[roadrunner2]

the occasional "oops" that gets through give us hope

On a serious note, I'm with you and I often wonder how some movies make it to the big screen.  40-year-old virgin is one.  I saw it on HBO and thought it was the biggest waste of time.  I guess it just goes to show a movie's appeal is purely subjective.

 

[uncle_al]

Artistic movies... the ones au courant film students dote on.  In film school, I was the one who liked Hollywood product when the others were idolizing Godard or Truffaut... or even Stan Vanderbeek, early Bunuel (such as Un Chien Andalou), or Ed Emshwiller.
I got into story.

Still there...

Al B.

[FLM]

HAHA! You and I are cut from the same cloth!
It's called film industry for a reason. Not Film Art or Motion Picture Friends!! Pay per veiw in the truest sense!
They ride for free with tax credits, art grants etc saddled on WORKING people.
Fill out a form in crayon, attach a script about funny looking people dry humping a birthday cake in the L.A river shot in black and white...
Art?
I don't think so...
15 + years in the (day in and day out) trenches so I can speak with quite a insight to this horse#^*%!
There was this time in a bar at happy hour, an artist decided to tell me about how art films are key to movies...it was a scene.
Even an "opps" is better than " what the hell is this crap?"
You're a good egg, Don ,but I think your tale has more to it. Do tell! 

[ScriptNurse]

I just love those smug, artisan writers who loudly proclaim they're making art that will change the world. Oh, never mind that the story structure is all bass-ackwards ... or that the story is about the author whose had so much happen to him in his action-packed 27 years on earth, not the least of which is his failure to graduate high school ... or that he's unable to craft an intelligible sentence containing both there/their and your/you're and use them correctly.

The purpose of making movies is to rent seat space in theaters, preferably once every 2 hours, including clean-up time. It's called show business not show art.

Good scripts are those that get bought.
Better scripts get made and admittedly there's sometimes an "Ooops."

Don't think you're going to change the world unless you can also rent the seats. It's ugly, nasty ... and true ... but it's my opinion. What's yours?